Promise Me
by Lonesome Road
Summary: When they were little, they were friends. Ash wasn't quite sure what had happened along the way, but somewhere something did and he began to hate her, or that's what it always felt like. She couldn't afford to think about it, though, the Wasteland held more important things than a stupid boy from a vault she left behind. That same stupid boy didn't have the same idea. May contain M


**Yes, so, I rewrote this chapter, sorta, it's still mostly the same, hopefully it's better**

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 ** _September 5th, 2262_**

When Ashton Conner was four, she found her best friend.

 _"Captain! There are rocks ahead and the Classem is still onto us! What do we do?"_

 _"Onward Lieutenant Braveheart, surrender is not an option! We escape the corrupt traitors who have infiltrated the Armada or we go down with the ship!"_

 _"Yes, sir Captain Audax!" Lieutenant Braveheart saluted and ran off to secure the sail's ropes, which were flying everywhere due to the wind from the storm. Captain Audax stood at the helm, holding steady, not quite sure she was ready for the jagged, deadly rocks ahead, but nevertheless, she was ready to try. Wind whipped her blonde locks, only slightly secured by her Captains Hat, all around her face, but she took no notice, "Onward," she whispered to the raging sky, "Onward, to victory or noble deaths."_

James Conner and Charles DeLoria stood in the former's living room, watching their children with amused expressions.

Two four-year-olds had just met, and two four-year-olds had been playing together since, having an extremely riveting time as pirates. They crawled all over their makeshift cardboard box pirate ship, brandishing foam tubes as swords and babbling gibberish at the ceiling and each other.

Charles nudged his friend, "Hey," he muttered softly, "Thanks for this," he motioned to the playing kids, "Butch doesn't have many friends and Ellen. . ." the man sighed and rubbed his face wearily, "Well, you know how Ellen is"

Charlie swiped his black curly hair out of his face, his eyes crinkling at the corners. He truly was the father of Butch DeLoria, they looked exactly alike, same hair, same eyes, same everything.

James gave a sympathetic smile, "It's alright Charlie, don't think anything of it," he turned back to watch his daughter, "Ashton needed a friend as well, the Overseer doesn't like her playing with Amata, they both needed a friend,"

"Still," Charles groused, "thanks,"

Smiling, the two friends turned back to watch their children, happy that they'd both found a friend.

After months of playing as Captain Audax and Lieutenant Braveheart, Butch and Ash decided that the characters had run their course and that their story was over. They, after years of evading of the evil Admiral Malum and his ship the _Classem_ , went down with their ship. There was a prompt funeral in which two hand-drawn pictures of the Captain and the Lieutenant were cremated and their ashes spread in the Connor's fully drawn bathtub in tribute to their time at sea. After a tearful goodbye, Butch and Ash immediately combined forces to create new characters.

Thus, Mage Heather and the Knight Galloway were born. They, in a land of dragons and magic, had many an adventure together on their quest to save the dragons from the evil Duke Richards.

After them, came the valiant Starship Captain Mina and her First Commander Norman, who fought to save the Unare species from extinction.

 _ **November 20th** , **2264**_

When Ash was six, she was made a promise to her best friend.

Tears streamed out of her eyes as she sat against one of the walls of the Vault, a little unsure of where exactly, her face was buried in her arms, her shoulders shaking.

Wally Mack had ambushed her earlier, she had been walking back home from the clinic when the older boy came up to her. She had never really liked Wally Mack, but Daddy said to be nice to everyone, no matter what. So she tried being nice to Wally too, but he had called her a freak, pushed her over, and stuck gum in her hair. When she had started crying, he only laughed and called her more names until she ran away.

She made her way to here, wherever 'here' was.

"Ash?" Butch's voice echoed down the hall, sounding timid. The girl's head shot up and she covered her mouth, hiccuping, tears still eeked out, blurring her vision, but she could just barely make out a figure coming towards her.

"Ash?" he crouched next to his best friend and she frantically tried wiping the tear streams from her face, only for them to be replaced not even a second later. "What happened?" he asked as she gave up on stopping the tears and covered her face with her hands.

She shook her head, still unable to control the sobs that came out of her mouth.

A warm feeling surrounding her, Ash stopped for just a moment to peek at what it was, Butch had embraced her. His arms wrapped around her fiercely, his head buried into her shoulder, "Please don't cry, Ash," he mumbled against her Vault suit, his voice hitching slightly, "I don't like seeing you cry, it makes me sad. A-and even if you don't wanna tell me what happened.. I'll still be here," He shifted and looked up at her, smiling.

Blinking, Ash felt the tears stop, and, managing a smile back, she turned and hugged Butch back.

"Does this mean you're not sad anymore?" he asked and Ash nodded. Pulling back he grinned and grin with one front tooth missing. "Come on!" he exclaimed, standing up and pulling Ash with him, "We gotta make you extra happy now!" He began making his way down the hall, "Like in the stories! Happily Ever After!"

Ash giggled at her best friend, "All the princesses get married before they get their Happy Ever After, though,"

Butch stopped, as if he hadn't thought of that, before whirling back to her, his missing-tooth-grin back on his face, "Then I'll marry you!" he beamed, rocking on the balls of his feet.

Ash blinked, her face slowly forming a grin of its own, "Really?" she asked.

Butch nodded enthusiastically, "Yeah! If we get married we can have a happy-ever-after and I can make sure that you're never sad again!"

Ash giggled, "How can you make sure?"

"Because!" He grinned at her again, reaching out to hold both her hands, "I'll always be there and I'll always protect you," His eyes sparkled, "I promise,"

Ash grinned, feeling so much happier than she did before.

 **( ＾∇＾)**

Butch and Ash stood together under the paper-mache makeshift altar James and Charlie had constructed. It was a simple arch fitted to the heights of the two six-year-olds and encircled by a fake plant vine Charlie had luckily found in storage.

The best friends grinned at each other, Butch's hair was, for once, tamed back into a slick and smooth hairstyle and he wore an extremely old suit, a tad too big, that his dad said to only wear on very very special occasions.

Ash's bouncy curls gathered up into high pigtails encircled by two brightly colored (blue) ribbons and she had on a pink dress the Dad said used to belong to her mom.

They were currently exchanging the rings(which were simple plastic rings they got from Stanley) while they said their vows.

"I promise..." Ash wondered aloud, clearly having not thought them through, "that with me as your wife, you happy-ever-after will never end, and that I'll always be here to make you laugh!" A second later Ash grimaced and quickly added, "I'm still the captain of the spaceship though,"

James and Charlie chuckled as Butch quickly launched into his vows, "I promise that I'll never make you sad, and that I'll always protect you, and that I'll keep you happy," He gave a lopsided grin and Ash grinned back.

"Alright," James cut in, "You may kiss the bride now,"

Butch, still grinning, reached up on his tippy-toes and kissed Ash on the forehead.

Charlie whooped and James gave a soft smile as their children grinned at each other and ran off to play.

The 'wedding' was forgotten in a week, but neither threw away their rings.

 _ **October 17th, 2266**_

When Ash was eight, she lost her father's best friend.

"Ash, come here darling, we need to talk,"

Looking up from her coloring, Ash furrowed her brow, why did Daddy look so sad? What was wrong? Clambering to her feet, the eight-year-old nervously shuffled to her father, still feeling like something was wrong.

"Daddy?" she asked, confused more than ever as James Connor took her by the hand and sat her next to him on the sofa. His eyes were red and puffy and his face had streaks on it, had he been crying? Who had made her dad cry?

"Sweetheart," he started as he traced absentminded circles on the back of her hand, "Do you remember when Uncle Charles came to the clinic a few months ago? And I made you go to bed early?" Still confused, she nodded.

"Well darling, he came to me that night because he was sick," James squeezed his daughter's hand, looking pained, "He was sick and he needed my help,"

"But that's what you do, right?" Ash felt tiny as she asked the question, "You fix people? You make them better?"

Casting his eyes down, her dad drew her into his lap, "Ashton," he spoke quietly, "Sometimes when people get sick, they don't get better,"

 **ಥ_ಥ**

 _ **December 27th, 2267**_

When Ash was eight, she lost her best friend.

She stood in the entrance to the DeLoria's apartment, wringing her hands together nervously as she stared at the floor, Butch's back to her. Nothing had been right since October, of course it hadn't, why would it? Charles DeLoria was gone now, Butch's _dad_ was gone, she was stupid to think that anything would be right, that anything would be the same. But still, it wasn't just different, it was wasn't just 'not right', it was wrong. Ever since that day, Butch had been distant and angry, everything Ash did to make him feel better had just made him angrier. She didn't know what to do anymore.

She didn't know... but she had to try, and so she was.

She fiddled with the little switchblade in her pocket, biting the inside of her cheek. What if he didn't like it? What if he pushed her out again? What if he didn't want to be friends anymore? Tears filled her eyes at the very thought of it. Taking in a deep breath, she kept her eyes on the floor and slowly extracted the switchblade. He had always been talking about how much he wanted one, even though they were illegal, so she'd gotten him one. It was easier than she thought it would be, on a totally unrelated note, Officer Mack should keep a better eye on his things.

"Butch," she started, her voice wobbly, "I-I kind of, um, kind of got you something,"

"Don't want it," he grunted without turning around.

"But you don't know what it is," she squeaked, feeling small.

"Don't care,"

Her face burned, "Aren't you going to see what it is first?" she asked quietly, her eyes started to itch.

"No," he growled, "Go away,"

Her throat felt funny, "But," she shuddered out, "But why don't you just-"

" _Stop it_!" Butch yelled, making Ash flinch as he whipped around, "I don't want it! Why would I want something from you! We're not friends! Just go away!"

Ash froze, her eyes filling with tears as she stared at him. She felt numb, the switchblade slipped from her fingers and clattered onto the floor. She had been right, he didn't want to be friends anymore, the tears began to spill down her face. He didn't want to be friends anymore.

She didn't pay attention to the look on his face as she ran out, she didn't pay attention to where she was going, she didn't pay attention to anything.

 _He didn't want to be friends anymore._

 _ **January 2nd, 2268**_

When Ash was eight, she missed her best friend.

She stared at the ground as Mr. Brotch droned on about- what was it again? The Hundred Years War? Something like that- something school-related, something boring. She didn't really care, so she let her eyes travel room before they came to rest on the back of _his_ head.

Butch hadn't talked to her at all, not unless it was to insult her or pull her hair. He had just turned 10, he had no party, but Ellen had taken to the diner for dinner and Ash had taken the opportunity to sneak into his room and leave him a present. It wasn't anything big, just a Grognak comic he'd been wanting to read but hadn't been able to get his hands on. She hoped he didn't talk to her about it. While she missed him, so much, and them not being friends still hurt, he wasn't the same. The Butch she remembered was nice and sweet, if a little show-boaty, but he was a good friend who would try and protect her from anything.

The Butch now was mean and cruel and always picking on her, he was a bully and was always trying to make her cry. She hadn't, she was proud to say, she hadn't cried once since the day he made sure she knew that they weren't friends anymore.

Although, she had been subject to many nosebleeds from when he pushed her down, which had earned her the nickname 'Nosebleed'.

She hated it.

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 **Mkay, to start off, thanks for reading, please comment below with any thoughts feedback or comments you may or may not have and all that nice stuff, blah blah blah.**

 **Now, feedback is appreciated and _strongly encouraged_**


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